Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 207, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 August 1910 — A Corner in Ancestors [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

A Corner in Ancestors

By ELEANOR LEXINGTON

Manning Family (Copyright by McClure Syndicate;

Manning Is from an old Norse word “—manning!—meaning a brave or valiant man, and one of the first forms of the name was Mannin; another or* thography was Mannyng. One historian gives a Saxon origin for the family, which he calls "ancient and noble,” according to him. Manning was the name of a town in Saxony, and from thence the family of Great Britain sprung. Others make Mannheim, Germany, the cradle of the family, and begin its history with Ranulph, or Rudolph de Manning, Count Palatine, who, having married Elgida. aunt to King Harold I. of England, had a grant of land in Kent. His name is also written de Mannheim—Rudolph of Mannheim. His place in Kent was Downs Court,

and there the Mannings have been a power ever since. Simon de Manning, called a grandson of Ranulph, was the first of the English barons to take up the cross and go forth to the holy wars. He was a companion of Richard L, Cour de Lion,* and knighted on the battlefield; we can easily see where the cross of the coat-of-arms illustrated, comes from. At Downe Court, this arms is seen graven upon tombstones of the Mannings. By the thirteenth century the family was well represented in over a score of countries, and towns bear their names—Manningham, Yorkshire, and Mannington, Norfolk. In the "new world,” the Mannings have always been well represented. In 1634, William of Kent made a home at

Cambridge, Mass.; about the same time we find John and Thomas at Ipswich; another John and George at Boston. In 1662 Nicholas at Salem, Mass., and 1676 Jeffrey Manning in New Jersey. The story of a forefather who "ran away” should come in right here, but details are lacking to make the story complete, and where he ran from or what he ran for must be left ■to the imagination. * Samuel of Billerica, Mass., grandson of William of Cambridge, had become founders of families in Connecticut, Vermont and New York, and his grandsons were Ohio pioneers. In 1635 Thomas and John Manning, born in England, were living in Virginia. Stephen Mannering (not Manning, although this may have been the correct spelling), in 1677 confessed with others: “W’e have bln notoriously actors in ye late horrid rebellion, set on foot by Nathaniel Bacon." We confess ourselves traitors, and will never, no never, do so again, is the sum and substance of the confession, although not exactly thus worded. In Spotsylvania county, Virginia, Andrew and James Manning were living, about 1770, and in Princess Anne county, Henry K. Manning. The family was prominent Tn South Carolina, where there is a town. Manning, in Clarendon county. Thomas Manning was one of the counihl of safety, S. C., 1775. The family had its war record, and one to be proud of. Representatives are found in all colonial wars. Benjamin, Daniel, David, Thomas and Samuel were among the number. Diah, (where did he pick up this name?) of Connecticut, was a drummer of Washington’s Life Guards. Lieut. Lawrence Manning of the continental army was father of Richard Irvine Manning, Governor of South-Carolina, where he was born at Hickory Hill, Clarendon county. Gov. Manning entertained Lafayette upon his second visit, and his wife is recorded as the wife, sister, niece, aunt and mother, and foster-mother of a governor. As scholars the Mannings have few equals, and many have been bright and shining literary lights. The first “popular”. history of England was written by Robert Manning, in the time of Edward 111., whom he calls “Edward of Inglond.” The coat-of-arms illustrated is blazoned: Gules, a cross-fiory, between four trefoils, slipped or. Crest; An eagle’s head, sable, between two ostrich feathers, Argent, issuing from a ducal coronet, or. Motto: Per Ardua Stabilis—steady in difficulties.